South Korea Legalizes Blockchain Industry with New Classification Standards

July 11, 2018

The government of South Korea elaborates new standards for classification in blockchain industry, as local publication The BChain reports.

Three Korean ministries - the National Statistical Office, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Information and Communication - are considered to function since the end of the last year under the new classification scheme for blockchain networks.

The project defines crypto exchanges as exchanges with crypto assets and broker services which is crucial as it recognizes crypto exchanges as regulated financial institutions unlike their current definition as communication providers.

BChain informs, this measure is the first case when the Korean government recognized crypto branch as legitimate industry.

The government has split its classification of crypto industry into three sectors with 10 subdivisions supervised by the Korean Standard Industrial Classification (KSIC). The subdivisions include detailed solutions for DApps like EOS, Ethereum and NEO, cloud calculation services based on blockchain and crypto mining.

The issue has played the leading role for South Korean crypto industry. Recent notorious incidents of hacking crypto exchanges would definitely raise concerns among local regulators. Nonetheless the media saw some regular positive news occurring, especially on the country’s lifting its total ban on internal ICOs.